This invention relates to a disposable garment adapted to absorb and to hold excretion discharged thereon.
Japanese Patent Application Publications Nos. 1994-63072A and 1994-63073A describe disposable diapers comprising front and rear waist regions separately prepared and placed upon each other and crotch regions partially defined by the front and rear waist regions. In the disposable diapers well known from the disclosures of the Publications, the front and rear waist regions are bonded together along bonding lines extending from said crotch region up- and outward to side edges of the waist regions to describe circular arcs so that the waist-opening is defined at an upper part and a pair of leg-openings are defined at a lower part of the diaper. Each of the front and rear waist regions comprises, in turn, a liquid-pervious topsheet, a liquid-impervious backsheet and a liquid-absorbent panel disposed between these two sheets. In the diapers well known from the disclosures of the Publications, the bonding lines curving up- and outward from the crotch region to the side edges of the waist regions enable the transverse dimension of the crotch region to be dimensioned relatively large.
However, the diapers well known from the disclosures of the foregoing Publications are disadvantageous in that, if the transverse dimension of the crotch region is larger than the corresponding dimension of the wearer""s crotch region, the peripheral edge portions of the respective leg-openings may rub the inner sides of the wearer""s thighs as the diaper is pulled up along the wearer""s waist, thereby obstructing the diaper from being smoothly put on the wearer""s body. To avoid this problem, the initial dimension of the crotch region may be appropriately reduced. However, the dimension of the core lying in the crotch region also must be reduced and this would inevitably require corresponding reduction of the core""s dimension so that an excretion absorbing capacity achieved in the crotch region would also be deteriorated.
It is an object of this invention to provide a disposable garment that is designed so that the transverse dimension of the crotch region may be appropriately reduced and thereby the article may be smoothly put on the wearer""s body without deterioration of the excretion absorbing capacity achieved in the crotch region.
According to this invention, there is provided a trunks-type or a briefs-type disposable garment comprising a front trunk region, a rear trunk region opposed to the front trunk region and a crotch region extending between these trunk regions so as to define a waist-opening at an upper part and a pair of leg-openings at a lower part of the trunks-type or a briefs-type disposable garment.
According to this invention, the crotch region has a pair of folding guides that extend transversely across a zone defined between peripheral edge portions of the respective leg-openings and intersect each other in a transversely middle zone of the crotch region. The crotch region is tucked about the folding guides inwardly of the article so that the crotch region is divided by the folding guides into substantially triangular first and second zones defined between the peripheral edge portions of the leg-openings and the folding guides, respectively, a third zone extending from the folding guides into the front trunk region, and a fourth zone extending from the folding guides into the rear trunk region with the first and second zones being disposed between the third and fourth zones.
According to one embodiment of this invention, the trunks-type or briefs-type disposable garment comprises a liquid-pervious topsheet, a liquid-impervious backsheet and a liquid-absorbent core disposed between these sheets and wherein the top- and backsheets as well as the core are folded about the folding guides in the first and second zones.
According to another embodiment of this invention, the garment maintains the first and second zones in the tucked-in shapes until the garment is actually used.